Have you ever experienced that drag in the day where you feel like you don’t want to put another step forward? I’m sure you have. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you want to just fall into a heap in the mid-afternoon. Then, to make matters worse, you end up having a terrible night’s sleep, so you don’t feel like getting out of bed and doing anything at all.
That’s when we often crave a nice strong cup of coffee or a delicious sugary snack. Sure, they might offer a temporary boost, but they usually only make things worse. Those coffees can lead to an energy crash, and the sugary snacks can cause a spike in your blood sugar levels, which then follow with a big slump, leaving you feeling sluggish and then wanting to have more.
Clean Eating for Fighting Fatigue
The answer to fighting fatigue is to eat clean foods! If you eat whole, nutrient-dense foods they provide a steady release of energy. These foods include complex carbs, proteins and healthy fats.
Here are a few suggestions for you:
- Complex carbohydrates include foods such as sweet potatoes, quinoa, and brown rice, which can fuel your body without the crashes caused by processed snacks, keeping your blood sugar stable.
- Protein-rich foods include lean meats, eggs, legumes, and tofu, which help to maintain long-lasting energy.
- Healthy fats found in avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil are necessary for good health and fighting fatigue because they help to stabilize your energy by slowing the absorption of carbohydrates and warding off hunger-induced slumps.
Clean Eating for Getting Better Sleep
Your nutrition is so important, in so many ways, and one of those vital roles your nutrition plays is in regulating your hormones like melatonin, which controls your sleep cycles. A healthy diet is essential for supporting good sleep because it provides all the key nutrients it needs, such as magnesium, zinc, and B vitamins. These vitamins and minerals help to relax your body and promote better sleep.
If you are currently consuming refined sugars and cups of coffee in the hours before your bedtime, they are probably overstimulating your nervous system and interfering with your sleep. If you are waking up throughout the night, this habit could be the reason!
Foods to Help Promote Better Sleep
The best foods for getting quality sleep are those that help to calm you and ones that help to regulate your sleep hormones. Here are a few examples:
- Fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel, and tuna are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, both of which help regulate serotonin, a key precursor to melatonin.
- Nuts such as almonds and walnuts are also excellent choices, as they provide magnesium and natural melatonin to promote sleep.
- Bananas, with their high levels of potassium and magnesium, help relax muscles and nerves.
- Kiwi fruit, which is rich in antioxidants like vitamin C and serotonin, can help you fall asleep and improve sleep quality.
- Oats provide melatonin along with complex carbohydrates that stabilize blood sugar levels overnight.
- Greek yogurt and its calcium content supports melatonin production.
- Leafy greens such as spinach and kale, are magnesium-rich, which makes them a healthy choice for better sleep, and so much more. You can’t go wrong with leafy greens for better sleep and health!
- If you need a cuppa before bed, try calming herbal teas like chamomile or valerian root, which are perfect for relaxing the body for sleep.
If you add these foods into your evening meals, you will soon be getting quality sleep each and every night. Plus, you should start feeling a whole lot more energized the next day too.
If you start practicing clean eating, you’re taking an incredible step towards tackling the root causes of your fatigue and poor sleep, so congratulations on making your health a priority! Clean foods are so much better than taking a pill to sleep, or a pill to boost your energy.
It’s amazing how making small changes to what we eat can impact our health in so many ways. The next time you go to eat something, stop and pause and ask yourself, will this heal my body the way I want it to, or will it cause me more harm than good?
